From Arctic Plunge to Sun Sponge --Wochen 8-10

The past few weeks have brought lots of adventure--I'll try to summarize. 

Dane got to have a fun night with the youth at the church.  They had an Oscars night.  For the past month, each group of kids has been working on filming and editing their "movie".  They got them all finished and turned in, and after, they had an Oscar night to see who won.  Of course, it was a formal event, complete with red carpet.  They were served dinner, watched the movies, and then had awards.  Dane's group won the Oscar for the best story line.  Then they had a dance lesson and a dance.  Dane said he enjoyed the evening, up until the dance.  He was pretty much a wall flower for that part of the evening.

Meanwhile, Dan and I went to the English theater and saw Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps.  It was a fun and suspenseful play with only 4 actors playing 58 roles, or something like that.  The other kids got to play at a friend's house, as our babysitter canceled 2 hours before we had to leave.  Thank goodness for friends who can bail you out at the last minute.

Yogurt and canned
apricot "eggs"

April Fools day was fun.  I made the kids "eggs" for breakfast.  I usually don't fix them breakfast, so they were excited to not have to make it themselves.  Dyllan cut hers and even tried to stab it before she realized that it wasn't an egg.  Dan even came down to watch the fun.  Deagan put a bucket of water on the top of our bedroom door.  It was a good try at a prank, but it fell off before anyone opened the door.  Luckily the Internet router which sits beside the door survived the flood.  April Fools can turn to "You Fool" so easily.  Then, for the afternoon snack, I served lime aid punch.  It was great to watch Dyllan try to suck it up with her straw, when it was really jello! 

The weather also played some good tricks on us.  We had every sort of weather in the span of five minutes.  We had sun, wind, rain, then hail, sleet, and snow--back to sun again.  This happened several times during the day.  It was crazy weather and a good sign of Spring.  Snow with thunder is always a weird thing to see.

Dane made it on the schools track and field team.  He decided he wanted to do long distance.  He will probably be doing the 1500 or 3000m race.  All of the meets are away, so I don't know if we'll get to see him run or not.  He is excited to be getting active again.  The coach requires a minimum of 3 long runs per week.  We're excited for him!

Dyllan had another day for parents to come into the classroom.  We watched her do a presentation on "Why you should stop smoking".  The school does a great job in having events for the parents to attend.  Dyllan is also loving gymnastics and choir.  Deagan is also loving his ball sports and tae kwon do. 

Dan travel to Milan this week.  He really likes Milan, especially this time of year.  Nice and green in the low flat land with snow covered peaks all around in the distance.

Although we are still very much in Spring, the property management still thought it a good idea to clean and open the pool.  Dyllan and Deagan could not stand it, to have a full pool, without swimming in it.  Dan and I both told them that it would be very cold, but they decided to take the arctic plunge anyway, and give it a try.  They both went in, and swam one lap before running back to the house.  Their lips were blue by the time they got back, but I had missed the photo opportunity.  They were too fast for me.  So, Dan told them to go again.  Without hesitation, they were both willing to do it again, so that I could document it on film.  The German tutor thought both them and us to be out of our minds--"Getting in the pool in this weather can cause all sorts of health issues."  You won't catch me in it for probably at least a month.  Not so much because of the warnings of the German tutor, but more because I have common sense.

We had our Easter Family Home Evening and we dyed Easter eggs.  Of course, there was also Easter chocolate eggs and the Easter lamb for the treat.  We learned from last year to pick up our eggs early.  We were hard pressed, but we finally found some white eggs that we could dye.  The kids had a great time.  They even made a couple look like minions.



 We spent most of the week getting ready for our trip.  We did some Spring cleaning and piles and piles of laundry.  I think it will be well worth the effort.

For Spring break, we took a two and a half hour flight to Palma de Mallorca.  We had never been there, and decided to check it out.  Apparently, it is a prime location for the Germans for summer break.  This is where the term "Ballermann" (party mentality) originated.  There is a local beach called Ballermann 6 and the Germans party there all summer long.  You can even buy Ballermann hits on iTunes.  We were not in party mode quite yet however, as Danyon got motion sickness on the flight and puked everywhere--again.  I'm going to have to sew barf bags into all his vacation clothing--just in case.

Once we got him cleaned up, we could get back to our vacation.  Much to our relief, spring break was considerably more calm than summer.  We stayed at a resort in Puerto Cristo.  It is on the far east side of the island.  It took about an hour to get from one side of the island to the other.  We arrived Saturday late afternoon, and spent the day familiarizing ourselves with the resort and of course, doing laundry.  Mallorca seems to be sort of deserty inland, and the coast line is not all beaches.  The island is very hilly.  It is very popular with biking enthusiasts.  There are tons of paved and mountain biking trails all over the island.  The towns have a sort of African desert feel to them in the architecture.  They cater to tourists, as I think this is their biggest income.  It was surprising to me how many signs were in English and German.  There were more of those than ones in Spanish.

The Easter bunny somehow found the kids on Sunday morning and all were excited about the treats.  Danyon, in particular, loved searching for everyone's treat baskets and sneaking their treats all week long.  We were able to watch one session of General Conference while we were there.  We just hung around and had a relaxing Easter.  We took a walk along the beach.  The beach was pretty small, but nice.  There was white sand and turquoise blue water.  It was still pretty chilly to be swimming.  We thought that the resort might do something special for Easter dinner, but it seemed to be pretty low key.  In fact, I think that they gave several employees the evening off, as the dinner menu seemed to be lots of make ahead items.  Although I missed our usual ham, a buffet comes in a close second.

Monday, we decided to check out the pool.  The weather was just a bit too cold for swimming.  Sitting by the pool required a towel to wrap up in, or else a sweatshirt.  Danyon lasted about 30 seconds in the frigid kiddie pool.  Dane, Dyllan and Deagan lasted a bit longer in the bigger kids pool.  They each went down the waterslides a couple of times.  Then they were done.  There was an indoor pool that we decided to go to.  Although it was warmer, we still only lasted about an hour before everyone was done swimming.

We decided to get some bikes--the resort rents them for free (with a 250 Euro deposit) and check out the island.  This is new for us, as Deagan has just recently re-learned how to ride his bike.  We had a great ride into town (about 3km, but it is pretty hilly, so the kids had to walk their bikes up a couple of hills.)  The town of Puerto Cristo is a nice sea side fishing village.  We walked around, went to the beach, and had some ice cream.  Then we were sufficiently ready to head back to the resort.

The next couple of days we spent exploring the island.  We rented a car and drove to a few of the local markets.  Different villages have markets on different days.  We headed to them in the morning, and then took our picnic lunches (again, provided by the resort--no deposit :)) to the beach in the afternoon.  In the markets, you can find anything from chicks and roosters, to household goods, to the usual tourist fare.  The markets are closed by 2:00 in the afternoon, so it is better to get an early start. 

One booth at the market.  Leather seems to be big here too.

Mallorca is known for its pearls.  They are not real pearls, but have the same luster and, supposedly, jewelers have a hard time telling them apart.  They make them out of layer after layer secret ingredients from the Mediterranean--Dan read that it was really ground up fish scales, so I can see why they call it secret ingredients instead.  They make long tubes of the pearl, then they heat them up and work them into shape, much like a glass worker.  Then the polish, and presto, a pearl!  They sell their pearls all over the island.  They offer a 10 year guarantee, although I don't know what to expect after the 10 years--maybe if they are fish scales, they stink.--Still not sure.

There are two caves on the island.  They are a huge tourist attraction.  We went to the "Dragon Cave".  All the caves that I have been to have been relatively cool in temperature.  The first thing to hit me was that this cave stays at 71-72 degrees year round.  That was warmer than the outside temperature.  It was a pretty good sized cave with tons of stalactites and stalagmites.  It seems that it would have been the perfect place to hide pirate treasure, although I don't think it had a history of such.  The tour comes complete with a classical concert.  In the center of the cave, they have an amphitheater, of sorts.  They sit everyone down, then they turn off all the lights in the cave.  Then, a lit boat comes across the front of the "stage".  The boat looks really pretty with the lights reflecting on the water of the lake in the cave.  The boat has a real orchestra playing classical music.  I didn't recognize all the pieces, but they did play Pachebel's Canon.  There were 4 pieces in all, then after the concert, we all got to ride in a boat across the lake and then we walked up all the steps to the outside.





We found a vending machine that popped
your popcorn fresh for only 2 Euro

Friday we just hung around the pool.  The kids were loving the English T.V. and they found a new favorite on Netflix:  The Amazing Dr. Pol.  I think we watched the entire first season and part of the second during Danyon's nap times.  We also tried our hand at tennis.  We had a really great time.  The kids did pretty well, considering it was their first time playing.  Danyon wanted to be part of all the action.  He feels like he is just as big as everyone else. 

These were the best thing we
ate all week.  Crispy croissant
filled with chocolate.  2 a day!

Saturday, we played some soccer and then we sat by the pool playing games until it was time to leave.  Dan even got in a couple of loads of laundry.  The flight home was much better.  We gave Danyon some motion sickness medicine before leaving and we were puke free.  We didn't get home until about 1:00am, so we were pretty tired.  Dan has a pretty hairy week coming up.  I can't imagine trying to keep up that schedule.  The rest of us are pretty tired and are still hating that there is reality and school tomorrow.

The Sun Only Shines in Vienna When You Need It - Woche 7

Not exactly how we saw it, but here is what a photographer took on Heldenplatz in Vienna

For solar fanatics it was a big week.  On March the 20^th we had a solar eclipse that could be viewed throughout most of Europe.  All the kids in Dyllan’s grade spent the week preparing special eclipse viewing boxes and were not allowed outside during the event unless they had a welder’s mask or their special viewing box.  Dyllan even made a second box for Mom and Dad so that we could see what she was going to see.  In true Viennese style we assumed that the sun, which rarely seems to show itself this time of year, would not make an appearance through the clouds.  Much to our surprise, it turned out to be a perfectly clear day and the eclipse was completely visible.  Dyllan got to see it at school and Allynn got to use the second viewing box to watch it at home with Danyon.  Dan spent the eclipse in a conference room, but was promised it was really cool.

Dane had a pretty normal week (he said), but was a big help on Saturday with babysitting his siblings while the adults attended our spring conference for the local congregations of the church.  Dan was in meetings for about 4 hours on Saturday for training and even the visiting authority who was originally from the US, but now lives in Germany, gave all his talks and instruction in German.  There was translation available, although Dan opted not to use it this time, and figures he got about 70 percent of it (hopefully the important parts).  Allynn even opted not to use translation for a few of the talks and did pretty well with understanding.  Allynn says that she mainly chose not to use the translation because it was hurting her ears, the headphones that is, not the talks.  Her German is really improving and the new tutor is making a big difference.  She wouldn’t have gotten any of the conference a year ago without translation.  The kids all opted to get the headphones during the Sunday morning meetings that they were invited to, but didn’t wear them for more than a few minutes and got as much out of it as they would have in English.  Mostly because they were fighting over crayons and seating arrangements for the majority of the meeting, I think.

Danyon had the most fun of anyone at the meeting and gave us a big scare.  With all of the members of the church being invited from Vienna and the other cities in Eastern Austria we could not fit in our regular church building, so the meetings on Sunday morning were held in the Vienna International Center (the United Nations Campus in Austria).  Danyon’s attention span was only good for about 30 minutes and Dan took him out in the hallway to quiet him down.  After trying to keep him from running around with other kids that were in the hallways for about 15 minutes Dan finally just turned him loose and followed from a safe distance to try and let him burn off some energy.  When Dan stopped to talk to someone in the hallway he turned his back on Danyon and about 15 seconds later, when he tried to spot him again, he was nowhere to be found.  Dan searched all over the place (it was a big convention area full of meeting rooms) for about 5-10 minutes and then started to get a little panicky as he still couldn’t find Danyon.  At this point he started employing other wandering fathers and children and had a handful of people looking in all the corners and rooms.  When Dan went to get Allynn to get her help in the search (which meant that panic had really set in) he found Danyon coloring on Allynn’s lap.  Apparently he slipped past Dan went through a different door than the one they had come out of and found his way through the huge conference center and right back to where he was supposed to be.  Allynn  was getting very upset after 20 minutes of having to wrangle all 4 kids in the meeting while Dan was off in the hallway chatting.  She was also surprised and confused by the fact that Danyon kept asking “where Daddy”.  Little did she know what was going on in the hallway.  

Danyon had another big moment this week.  Allynn put him down for a nap and was a little surprised when he still wasn’t awake after 3-1/2 hours, so she peeked into his bedroom to find his entire room, including Dyllan’s half completely torn apart.  She eventually found Danyon curled up in the corner, shirt off, covered in chocolate and fast asleep.  Further investigation revealed that he had managed to find Dyllan’s stash of American candy, that Dan had brought back from his last trip.  He had eaten an entire 12oz. box of Junior Mints and an entire box of Reese’s Pieces before falling into a sugar coma.  Danyon has become a real treat monster and anything that is not locked up quickly disappears; even the items on the top shelves in the kitchen cabinets.  He is either a very good climber or is paying Dane to help out.

We did get a nice surprise on Friday evening as a result of all this.  When one of Dan’s colleagues from work (Mihovil) found out about the loss of the candy he had his wife, who works at the UN, stop by the commissary and pick up two containers of Breyers Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream and then delivered it to the our place on Friday evening. 

On Saturday morning we did a little yard work, basically just raking out the winter debris and spreading some grass seed.  To our very pleasant surprise, without being asked, Deagan was the first and only one out in the yard and was a huge help all morning long.  This was a very nice turn-around from the recent yard work experiences with Deagan, so he got to come shopping with us after the work was done and purchased a new Bey-Blade stadium, some Hubba Bubba and a new flavor of Fanta soda that made great floats when we got home.

The last major event of the week was the cleaning of the cat.  For some reason Marco has had really bad gas lately and can clear the room with his silent cat stench.  While I was typing the blog however, he walked by and I could swear the stench was now lingering with him in general, so I suggested that we should give the cat a bath.  Much to my surprise a soaking wet cat just got dropped next to me on the couch.  Dyllan has informed me that he didn’t like it very much, but at least he smells better.  My guess is that he will never cross the threshold of the kid’s bathroom doors ever again.  

 

We did get to finish off or Sunday with a fresh rhubarb pie.  We saw rhubarb in the store for the first time since we moved here and were sure to take advantage of it.  YUMMY!!!!

 

Dinner for How Many???--Woche 5

This week was pretty normal--until Dan found out that he was asked to cook a nice dinner for all the women in our ward.  The dinner party was scheduled for Friday night.  He was told to plan for no more than 40 women and at least 3 courses.  Dan spent a couple of days in Germany this week, but after that, he spent all of his free time at the grocery store.  He went one night, and bought all the chicken the store had, among many other items.  The next night, he wandered around to 4 other stores, hoping to pick up enough chicken to feed the 40 women.  None of the other stores had any of the chicken he needed (he was looking for thighs).  He had to go early morning on Friday in hopes of finding more chicken thighs.  Luckily, they had stocked up in one store and he was able to get them.  Dan and I spent two nights this week chopping vegetables and de-boning the chicken.  He chose a very yummy dessert (Cherry Berries on a Cloud), and since the meringue base had to sit in the oven overnight, and since our oven can only fit one pan at a time, I had to start making those on Tuesday night.  I made one every night up until Friday.  Luckily, I was able to keep them dry enough to still be good on Friday.  We slaved away for most evenings and then on Friday, we spent the whole day getting ready.  Dan planned a good menu of salad and homemade rolls to start, then grilled marinated chicken thighs, sop-a-suey, grilled vegetables on a skewer, and rice.  Then we had the yummy dessert.  The evening ended up being very nice and Dan and his crew of 1 did well to cook all the food.  He got more help once we were at the church to help serve and do the dishes.  The end total was 50 women fed.  It's a good thing that Dan planned for more than 40, but he was scrapping the bottom of the barrel for enough rice at the end.   

Even with all the added stress this week, Dan was still able to drop a few more pounds and is finally under 200lbs.  He has hit a major mile stone and things are going well for him.  As for me, it doesn't seem to matter what I do.  I have been monitoring all calorie intake for the last 8 weeks.  Some weeks at 1200/day, some weeks at 1400 per day.  I have been regularly exercising at least 5 days a week.  Some weeks, I have added a second workout into the schedule per day.  No matter what I do, I have stayed at the same weight for 5 weeks.  It is very frustrating.  I'm happy for Dan, but would really like to see the pay off as well.  Dyllan has also been working hard and has lost 4lbs and can now do push ups and sit ups.  Her gymnastics are going well. 

Dane put his lips on Marlene and she started to sing!

Dan's experience in Germany was a good one.  He flew into Basel and was informed to please take a taxi from the French side of the airport.  The Basel airport is actually located in France, but is shared with Switzerland.  You can choose whether to go out the Swiss exit or the French exit.  Even though you are leaving from the same building, the taxi fares vary by up to 300 percent.  Dan needed to go to a small town in Freiburg, Germany.  The fare from the French side turned out to be about 100 Euro, but had he taken the taxi from the Swiss side, it would have been over 300 Swiss Francs.  Dan can hardly wait to go to Switzerland for vacation.  I think it's a good idea that we are leaving the kids at home--less mouths to feed and fewer taxis.

Birthday Wishes--Woche 4

Hang on everyone, we have a teenager in the house!  The teenager is finally official, even though certain teenager eating habits and emotional swings have been present in the house for a few months.  We are excited for Dane! 

The volcano cake

We celebrated the usual way, with letting Dane choose what he wanted to do.  He decided that he wanted to go bowling with his friends.  We haven't ever done "friend" birthday parties, and we decided not to start.  So, in the next couple of weeks, we will let Dane go bowling with his friends, but for his actual birthday, we spent the day together as a family.  We went to Dane's favorite restaurant, Athena, for dinner, watched a movie at home, and of course, had cake and ice cream!!  Dane opted for a salted caramel chocolate cake again this year--Yum!! 

Dan just got back from a week back in Indiana.  We like it when he goes to the States to pick up some items that we can't find here and miss.  I don't think he likes it though, because it is somehow not worth the time spent on airplanes to get there.  With that though, we are stocked up on candy, chips and popcorn. (They do have popcorn here, but it pops very small and has a ton of "old maids").  It's nice to have popcorn that doesn't break your teeth!  We even got a bottle of Ranch!  I am amazed at all the stuff Dan can fit into his suitcases.  The kids feel like it's Christmas whenever he gets back.

Dan got the bikes out of the storage room and got them back to working condition.  Dyllan and Deagan have been having fun riding around our courtyard.  Deagan asked for the training wheels to be taken off his bike.  When we left Indiana, he had just learned to ride a bike without training wheels.  We learned last summer (when we rented bikes to explore Kotor), that he had forgotten how to ride a bike--it is possible to forget how to ride a bike.  He couldn't ride the bike there, and had to use a scooter.  Now, he can ride around the courtyard without training wheels.  Hopefully, we can get him on the canal trail soon and he can really learn how to ride--without auto traffic and not too many other bicyclers.  Dane is enjoying his new swayboard that he got for his birthday.  I'm amazed at how well he can ride it after only 2 days.  I don't think I could get on, let alone, ride it any where. 

When I asked Dane what he wanted for his birthday, he replied with "a soprano saxophone".  I told him to just name his current (alto) saxophone a girl name, like, Marlene.  He didn't think that was very funny.  Dane has enjoyed the weekend putting together Lego, playing on his swayboard, and also playing around with his new soprano saxophone, Marlene.  He will have to put in a lot of practice, (as the first time he tried to play it, no sound came out), but he is excited to be able to learn it.

Oh How Our "Bahns" Hurt--Woche 3

Ski week started off pretty rough.  Dane had the flu from Sunday to Wednesday.  The other kids thought he was just making it up to get out of house cleaning on Monday, but I checked with the thermometer and at 104.5, he wasn't making it up.  We did get the house cleaned, and by Wednesday, even got some Spring cleaning done, as well. We went through all the kids dressers and got everything that didn't fit out, and put in only clothes that fit and they will wear.  By the end of Wednesday, Danyon caught the flu from Dane.  But, we still got all the laundry done by Thursday afternoon.  We were able to pack for our trip the rest of Thursday.  With all the sick people, we watched a lot of movies and the kids even convinced me that watching German cartoons counted as studying German for the week.

Playing around with my new
fish eye lens

Dan arrived home from Basel late Wednesday night.  His first impression of Switzerland was that it was expensive.  His taxi ride cost him 43 CHF for a 10 minute ride.  Then, because it was so late, he ordered room service for dinner.  That cost him 44 CHF for a salad and bowl of soup.  He didn't get out of the hotel much.  They had one group dinner off-site, but other than that, the meeting stayed in the hotel.  He didn't even get to see the new main headquarters for Elanco.  It was only a couple of blocks away, but he was never invited to get out and see it.  Initial thoughts were that he is grateful that we have not been asked to move there.  We are still looking forward to our trip in a couple months, but will set aside a few more euros to pay for dinners and lunches.



The small towns in Austria
 are full of small dairies.  Note the
Austrian milk tanker trucks waiting
 to be unloaded.
 (maybe 50 gallons each)

So, on to our trip for ski week.  After looking for several hours (back in December), I finally found a hotel with vacancy in Tirol.  We haven't spent much time in Tirol, and since it is full of Alps, snow, and beautifulness, we decided to head there to check it out.  It took us about six hours to drive to our hotel (we were only about 10-15 miles from Italy).  We were surprised that the whole area was not covered in snow.  We have gotten much more snow in Vienna this year than we did last year.  There was still snow, but only on the shady side of the roads and mountains.  Our hotel had recently been renovated and was absolutely beautiful!  They even gave Dane his own room!  Everything looked brand new.  The hotel offered a home cooked dinner, which we gratefully took them up on.  We spent the evening looking at the mountains and relaxing in the hotel.

This is where we stayed

The next morning we got up early and jumped in the car.  We had about an hours drive to the Wildkogel ski arena.  This stretch of mountains is known for the many ski runs and lifts, but also for the sledding.  Since we have Danyon, and he is not quite ready to learn to ski, I decided that we should spend the day together sledding instead.  We parked our car in the garage and had to walk 20 feet to get to the sled rental store.  Then we had to walk 5 feet to buy our lift tickets, and then another 5 feet to board the lift.  It was really slick and easy.  We took the lift up to the top of the mountain (2101m).  The lift ride took about 13 minutes to get all the way up.  We found our sled run--the Rodelbahn.  It was 14km long—that’s right, a little over 8 1/2 miles long.  Dane and Dyllan had their own sleds, but we were advised that Deagan and Danyon should be with an adult.  We set off down the hill.  The sled run was pretty well marked, but we merge with ski runs in a few places along the way.  Dyllan was pretty cautious at first, because there were steep drop offs on the trail with no boards, netting, or control of any kind.  Dane almost learned the hard way, that you needed to be careful.  He stopped just in time.  Dan saw a guy come down so fast that he missed the corner and the only thing that stopped him from going over the edge was that he threw his rear end off the back of the sled and it caught in the snow, just before tumbling down to guaranteed hurt.  The run is giant switchbacks all the way down the mountain, so you have to maneuver the corners.  As you get more experienced, you can go faster and still make the corners.

The sauna.  It really was
snowing outside

Because we were being cautious and didn't know what to expect, it took us about seventy five minutes to get down the run.  It was awesome!!  The second and third runs only took about 48 minutes.  We haven't ever seen anything like it.  After three runs, the kids had enough.  Danyon only made one run with me.  He loved it--except for the moguls.  At one point there was a definite "ha,ha" giggle when we passed Dan and Deagan.  We had to stop at one point to readjust.  Danyon's gloves had come off, and his snow pants had risen up to his knees.  I pulled over to the very edge of the course to make the adjustments.  It just so happened that it was the wrong place, at the wrong time.  Some guy came up fast and rear ended us.  We weren't too worse for wear, but my lower back was sore for the rest of the day.  At the end of the run (it finishes with a very steep hill), Danyon cried.  We had to go down anyway.  We made it, but he didn't want to go again.  He was too cold.  After all our runs, the rest of the crew is all complaining about how their rear ends hurt because of all the moguls on the course.  By the third trip, some bumps were getting pretty deep.  We were not looking forward to another 5 hours sitting in the car on Sunday.

Back at the hotel, the kids warmed up with hot showers and Dan and I hit the sauna.  The sauna had a big window in it where you could watch it snow outside and ponder on the serenity of the mountains, all while you were sweating to death.  It was the perfect end to a great day.  All of the kids were in bed by 8:00 and asleep shortly after.  Dan and I weren't too far behind them.


If you ask any of us if we would do it again, we would all answer "Definitely".  So, if you need another reason to come and visit us, there you have it.  You haven't done sledding until you've done the Rodelbahn!

The bugs are in the air--not necessarily all loveable--Woche 2

We had a great week!  Dan was in town all week!  Deagan and Dyllan each had activities at the school that parents could attend.  I also had my first experience with the dentist, and then there was Valentines Day--hooray!!

At the start of the week, Dan and I were sick with sinus issues.  We were stuffed up and not feeling very well.  Dan came home from work just after lunch on Monday.  He had conference calls all afternoon and told them all that his camera was broken--just so he could stay in his pajamas wrapped up to his neck in his blankets.  I tried to get the cleaning done, but it took all my energy.  We both felt like doing nothing.  We didn't have a fever, but we still felt gross.

Tuesday we headed up to the school to Deagan's Poetry Slam.  Each second grader wrote a poem (mostly about space or celestial things) and they each got to get up on a box and recite their poem in front of a microphone in the school theater with all the parents watching.  Deagan read his poem about going to space. "If I went to space, it would be so cool.  If I went to space, I could see Mercury and Neptune.  If I went to space."  It was okay, but my favorite was by some other kid.  And I quote:  "Uranus is a giant ball of gas.  I love Uranus."  I know that I was the only one whose 4 year old humor came through, because I was the only one shaking uncontrollably trying not to laugh out loud. 


Wednesday, I had my first dental work appointment.  I was scheduled at 10:40am.  I got to the office about 10 minutes early.  I sat in the waiting room.  And sat, and sat, and sat.  At 11:30, they called me back.  I know that dental offices rarely run precisely on time, but I think that waiting for an hour, with no explanation, was a bit much.  Then I got back to the chair.  The dentist then asked what I was there for.  Hmmm.  I only made the appointment because he said I needed to have a filling replaced.  Anyway, he did decide to redo the filling.  Then, he asked if I wanted local anesthetic.  I said I probably would like it.  He asked if I had ever had it before.  (Note:  this doctor has seen the inside of my mouth, including all the fillings!)  I guess that local anesthetic is a luxury here, and not everyone uses it.  I happily went with it.  There was no topical to soften the needle, but I have to admit that he didn't need it.  I never felt the poke and only slightly felt the medicine going in.  5 minutes later, I was numb.  He finished the filling and I was out of there by 12:15.  By the time I got home, I was mostly un-numb. 

Wednesday, Dane had a huge, exciting event.  His school band was asked to play at the Musikverein in downtown Vienna.  This is the equivalent of getting asked to play at Carnegie Hall.  The concert was China meets Austria, and there were several Chinese choirs and bands performing.  Some of those choirs were fantastic.  I couldn't believe it!  Dane's band did well.  Their songs were very technical.  One of the bands had someone playing what I call the "birdhouse".  Dan says it was actually a huge recorder, but I thought it looked like a birdhouse.  This band was only guitars and recorders.  It sounded really cool.  Another band had some harpists that were phenomenal.  The rest of the band was really good too, but the harpists were exceptional.  It was an exciting event for Dane.


Dyllan had her Ink Café on Friday.  We arrived and were seated at our table.  Dyllan was our waitress as she brought us our choice of drink, cookie, and story.  We were to read the stories and then comment on them.  It was a lot of fun.  Dyllan's story was realistic fiction about a girl who lost the bow to her cello.  She found it eventually and even had a cake for her music teacher.  It was a great read.  She also had a fantasy story about dragons, healing potions, and ended with a "Scooby doo reveal." (it was the dad who did it). 

Deagan and Dyllan had their Valentine's parties at school that day.  Dane is too old for Valentine's parties, but he still made a few Valentines and gave them to his friends and favorite teachers.  I decided to try a few new recipes to make Valentines Day more special.  I made strawberries and cream fudge, raspberry and cream fudge, dark chocolate cherry fudge, and strawberry milkshake cookies.  I think that the kids and Dan were well treated (pun intended).  Needless to say, after hearing about some more changes at Dan's work, we were off the diet and plunged right into the fudge to wallow in all the upcoming changes.  These new ones were just little, but made a huge impact on our year end salary, and they just keep piling on all the new policies with the acquisition of the new company. 

For Valentines, Dan gave me Cap'n Crunch
and he got sparkling mineral water filtered
through gold from Canada

Saturday, the day of love, we spent grocery shopping in the morning and delivering Valentines (fudge packages).  Then we came home and spent the rest of the day watching chick flick love movies.  It was fun for most of us involved.  The others had the fudge to console them.  That night we had a nice dinner of Gouda cheese fondue and Caramel Chocolate fondue for dessert.  It was the perfect love ending to the perfect love day!

By Sunday, Dane and Danyon were not feeling well.  Danyon's eyes were so red and swollen that it looked like we punched him in both eyes.  Dane slept in until almost noon with a headache and a scratchy throat.  We are in for an exciting week with all the kids home next week.  Hopefully, we get everyone back to normal before too long.

Two Year Mark--Woche 1

Well, we have officially been in Vienna for two years.  We sure have accomplished and experienced a lot since coming here.  We have learned a lot, too.  It's weird to think back on the last two years.  Some of it seems like such a long time ago, and other times it seems like we really haven't been here very long.

One of our most recent accomplishments is that we now have light fixtures throughout the house.  We have eliminated all the wires sticking out of the walls and everything looks more finished.  It did take quite a feat on a Saturday to get it all done.  Dan put in 22 light fixtures in one day!  You would have thought that we would have been living in the dark, but now, for sure, we are enlightened!!

I figure the extra energy could only be attributed to eating right and exercising.  We have completed 3 weeks of staying within the new diet and exercise program.  We are doing well.  I am now back to my pre-holiday weight, as is Dan.  We ate like pigs for 6 weeks, and it only took 3 for it to come off.  We hope to continue with the program for another 6 weeks.  Hopefully, we will continue seeing positive results.

This is Dan and I in the
main ballroom

To celebrate our two year anniversary, Dan took me to a ball in the Hofburg Palace.  It wasn't as "sweet" as last year's ball, as there was no free candy, but we still had a great time.  We got all dressed up (Dan did a great job on my hair again this year) and we headed out to dinner with some friends, Natalie and Keith.  We had a nice Austrian dinner, then we headed to the palace.  There was a big program before this ball officially started the dancing.  It started at 8:30 and the program lasted until almost 10:00.  They had speeches and Argentinian Tango dancers and singers.  They had some opera performances and, of course, the debutants.  When the program was finished, they opened the ball up for all the dancers.  They had seven to ten different ballrooms/areas where they had live bands playing all kinds of different music.  You could choose your favorite and hang out all night, or do like we did and head from room to room having fun with the different styles of music.  We did have our favorite rooms:  Salsa and Funky Reggae.  Some of the ballrooms were pretty neat to dance in.  One looked just like you would imagine a ballroom from a fairy tale to look.  There were beautiful chandeliers hanging all over the ceiling and, of course, since it was a palace, the walls and ceiling were ornately carved and gold plated.  It was a little surreal to be dancing in such a place.  It felt like a room you could waltz in for hours.  However, the band they chose for this space was a "rock" style band and you could not waltz at all.  We did get to waltz in the main hall, but we did not do the Viennese Waltz.  It was much too crowded and crazy to even get on the floor.  By the time 1:30 came around, my feet were killing me.  I could not physically dance anymore.  We left the ball, just as things were started to wind down, and made the very painful trek to the car.  I can definitely see why Cinderella would have left her glass slipper on the steps of the palace.  Her feet hurt too much to keep them on!  We were home and in bed by 2:45.  We slept very well until it was time for Dan to get up to make scones for a special meeting at the church.  We were pretty tired at church, but we made it through.  Dan even stayed awake for his special meeting after church.  We hope to spend the rest of our Sunday cat napping!

While we were out at the ball, this is what our kids were up to.  Andrew (the babysitter) was a really good sport, to let Dyllan get a hold of him!

This is a sign in a parking garage that we laugh at every time we see it.  It says, "Please don't forget your cell phone, lap top, dog, and mother-in law in the car."